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August 2009
Scanlations.
Welcome to the current bastion of free, cheap, manga. Sort of . . .
Scanlations, similar to Pokemon, is a smashed word from the terms scanning and translation, and serve the purpose of serving as an easy way for fans to get English translations of the hottest and rarest manga not available in English . . . or available, but for free. Scanlations are a step further then the trend of scans of American comics, which people download and read without paying for the product. They are scans of original Japanese material (or from some foreign country, but I'm focusing on Japanese manga) that are then altered/edited to include English translations in for the Japanese text.
So are they free?
Yes, most Scanlations can be found online for download through torrents, IRC, or direct download. So you can download the scanlation, call up the image files in a reader or picture viewer and read your manga on your computer, or device.
So are they cheap?
Well yeah . . . I mean the person who originally bought the manga to be scanned paid for it, probably, but after that it is edited and redone based on a fan's approach and therefore can look crappy cheap or near professional level. Depends on the time invested by the individual as to how high the quality is.
Is it manga? Oh yes! This is manga in its purest form simply having the Japanese text, often only the dialogue and narration, not the sound effects, taken out and changed to English. There is no flipping here and the pages are often scanned from the original magazines so that you even get to see the ads or little notes that are left out of the collected tokubans.
So . . . what is the problem?
That depends on who you are. In essence the elements of manga present here are immense. Scanlations allow the rapid exchange of manga to those who may not be familiar with the art form or with a title or story type that manga does well. This exposure allows more to become familiarity with manga, after all a book for $9.99 will not get as many owners as a free book. It also allows you to get a hold of manga thought long lost or just simply hard to find. (I was so excited recently when I found a scanlation of Transformers manga I wanted to read badly.) Scanlations can also allow fans to stay current with popular series as many scanlations come out a day or two after the original publication. In addition many companies decide what to license based on scanlation fan interest. All great things, so where is the problem?
Well most scanlations are free and so therefore the creator and licenser are not getting paid for their work. In addition they violate the law in any area where a manga property is licensed, which is pretty much most of the world for most popular prosperities. Also varying quality puts Scanlations as being a very questional art form for purists. So why do they still exist?
The issue with scanlations is that they have evolved to fill a niche that manga fandom can't scratch legally or quickly. Fans are immensely impatient. If the new chapter of Naruto is out in Japan then it should be out in English. Most fans are also not gung ho about learning Japanese, so scanlations give those fans that know Japanese an outlet, and give the rest of the fans material to enjoy before those who just "buy the book". Also for prosperities that aren't released in the US, or are not licensed by anyone, scanlations are a chance to read material that may never see the light of day in America. I give the Transformers manga example again. To get the manga published in America, both Takara and Hasbro, owners in Japan and America of Transformers would have to sign off on it. Also the magazine and the creator would have to sign off on it. Then it would have to be translated. Then edited and published, and along the way each of these people would get paid something, maybe not a lot, but something, and that something would eat up too much profit to make it profitable in most publishing business models. Hence I will not be reading Transformers Generation 1 manga in English, published for American audiences professionally any time soon.
Another element, and one I should probably write more on in another column, is the dirty side of manga, hentai. Several hentai manga depicts situations that are illegal to publish in America, or perhaps too hardcore, or too specialized to publish. For instance many Yaoi, boy loving boy, hentai manga are made into scanlations for the small audience that enjoys them. (By the way, I would say the size of that audience is about the same size as the audience that would love the Transformers manga I keep mentioning.) Also, several popular and well loved (take that term how you like) hentai manga portray sex between characters that do not appear to be of legal age, and hence cannot be published in the U.S. However, they can be made into scanlations with no trouble for perverts everywhere to enjoy!
In looking at this, scanlations are an element of manga that plays up much of the strangeness of this market in American publishing. Scanlations are demanded and supplied by fans, which do not really care about the legal aspect. They are used by companies to gauge future series to license, but panned because they take money away from the companies and creators. Their legal limbo, make no mistake they are illegal according to many copyright laws, allows them a weird place where most companies don't try to actively shut the scanlations down, but they do complain about them. And complaints, like the scanlations, are most often free.
So in looking at this mess what do I take away from it? What elements of manga are visible here? Mainly the elements that tie little to creativity, though some scanlation creators are very creative in terms of layout, and more to money and greed, and no I am not just looking at the companies. Scanlations allow fans to get something, a lot of some things, for free. That part doesn't bother me so much as the greed and expectation that most fans have that they must have the newest coolest thing immediately! Actually that isn't soon enough . . . Screw immediate gratification, I want it yesterday! The belief that fans are entitled to immediate access to new material and all material is actually rather disgusting and greed to the highest form. It puts the fan back in the full word "fanatic" and while I do not agree with the companies, I see nothing here to make me support the scanlation fans, mainly because most scanlations exist of material that can be obtained in book format soon, and fans just can't wait that long!
Perhaps though my honesty must remind everyone here that I am an "old school" manga and anime fan and therefore I prefer hard copies to read, over reading online. Yet, I do believe scanlations have their place, but fans and companies both need to get off their high horses and companies need to realize that the business they loose to scanlations is practically non-existent because as most people will tell you that people that get stuff for free will not pay for it, and if they can't get it for free, they will still usually not pay for it.
The main element of manga this time though is realizing the networks that have arisen among fans to support their love of manga, even if it is questionable in existence. However, those who like and enjoy scanlations can very easily follow my advice: "sample richly of the elements of magna, for they are rich and varied!" Those of you who don't care for translations will hopefully crack a book and read up.
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